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This study aims to demonstrate the suitability of text-mining toolset for the discovery of trends in quality management (QM) literature in 2000-2019. The hypothesis was formulated that as the field of study is mature, the most important trends are related to deepening and broadening of the knowledge.

A novel approach to trend discovery was proposed. The computer-aided analysis of full-texts of papers led to increased reliability and level of detail of the achieved results and helped significantly reduce researchers’ bias. Overall, 4,833 papers from 8 journal dedicated to QM were analysed.

Trends discovery led to the identification of 45 trends: 17 long-lasting trends, 4 declining trends, 11 emerging trends and 13 ephemeris trends. They were compared to the results of earlier studies. New trends and potential gaps were discussed.

The results highlight the trends that gain or lose popularity, thus they can be used to focus studies, as well as find new subjects, which are not so popular yet. The knowledge about emerging trends is also important for those quality managers who strive for improvement of their efficiency.

The research was designed to bypass the limitations of previous studies. The use of text mining methods and analysis of full texts of papers delivered more detailed and reliable data. Resignation from predefinition of classification criteria significantly reduced researchers’ bias and allowed the discovery of new trends, not identified in previous studies.

The purpose of the study was to detect trends in human resource management (HRM) research presented in journals during the 2000–2020 timeframe. The research question is: How are the interests of researchers changing in the field of HRM and which topics have gained popularity in recent years?

The approach adopted in this study was designed to overcome all the limitations specific to the systematic literature reviews and bibliometric studies presented in the Introduction. The full texts of papers were analyzed. The text-mining tools detected first clusters and then trends, moreover, which limited the impact of a researcher's bias. The approach applied is consistent with the general rules of systematic literature reviews.

The article makes a threefold contribution to academic knowledge. First, it uses modern methodology to gather and synthesize HRM research topics. The proposed approach was designed to allow early detection of nascent, non-obvious trends in research, which will help researchers address topics of high value for both theory and practice. Second, the results of our study highlight shifts in focus in HRM over the past 19 years. Third, the article suggests further directions of research.

In this study, the approach designed to overcome the limitations of using systematic literature review was presented. The analysis was done on the basis of the full text of the articles and the categories were discovered directly from the articles rather than predetermined. The study's findings may, however, potentially be limited by the following issues. First, the eligibility criteria included only papers indexed in the Scopus and WoS database and excluded conference proceedings, book chapters, and non-English papers. Second, only full-text articles were included in the study, which could narrow down the research area. As a consequence, important information regarding the research presented in the excluded documents is potentially lost. Third, most of the papers in our database were published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and therefore such trends as “challenges for international HRM” can be considered significant (long-lasting). Another – the fourth – limitation of the study is the lack of estimation of the proportion between searches in HRM journals and articles published in other journals. Future research may overcome the above-presented limitations. Although the authors used valuable techniques such as TF-IDF and HDBSCAN, the fifth limitation is that, after trends were discovered, it was necessary to evaluate and interpret them. That could have induced researchers' bias even if – as in this study – researchers from different areas of experience were involved. Finally, this study covers the 2000–2020 timeframe. Since HRM is a rapidly developing field, in a few years from now academics will probably begin to move into exciting new research areas. As a consequence, it might be worthwhile conducting similar analyses to those presented in this study and compare their results.

The present study provides an analysis of HRM journals with the aim of establishing trends in HRM research. It makes contributions to the field by providing a more comprehensive and objective review than analyses resulting from systematic literature reviews. It fills the gap in literature studies on HRM with a novel research approach – a methodology based on full-text mining and a big data toolset. As a consequence, this study can be considered as providing an adequate reflection of all the articles published in journals strictly devoted to HRM issues and which may serve as an important source of reference for both researchers and practitioners. This study can help them identify the core journals focused on HRM research as well as topics which are of particular interest and importance.

The authors of this study, who adopted a holistic view of the international organization for standardization (ISO) 9000 series of standards, aimed to evaluate the current status of the standards within the framework of the quality movement. Specifically, the evaluation covered two dimensions, i.e. the significance of the content included in the standards and the quality of the standards’ elaboration, which encompasses such issues as, for instance, their correctness, relevance to current trends in quality management, comprehensibility, etc.

The paper is based on a review of the scientific literature, analysis of the current and all previous versions of the international standards and the results of a survey, through which data were collected from 73 quality management experts from 17 different countries. To evaluate the results, an importance-performance analysis was performed.

As the results of the research demonstrated, experts in quality management have accepted the ISO 9000 standards series. However, this positive view refers mainly to the very idea of developing quality management standards and these standard’s content structure (components included in them). Study participants assigned a low rating to the quality of the standards’ elaboration. Therefore, improving the following aspects of the standards is essential: definitions, guidelines explaining the requirements for a quality management system, self-assessment tools and guidelines concerning quality management concerning chosen forms of activity.

The research described here in has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management but can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components which they will find are the most useful.

The research described herein has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management. However, it can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components, which they will find are the most useful.

Most research treats ISO 9000 standards as a benchmark for their studies on quality management systems implemented in organizations. The standards themselves are rarely the subject of a study, and so this paper fills a gap in the research and provides insights into desired directions for standards improvement.

The objectives of the study were to demonstrate the suitability of methodology based on a text mining toolset for detecting trends in scientific papers and to find trends that were present in the field of project management during the research time span (2000–2019).

An approach based on text mining tools supported by expert analysis was adopted due to an extensive number of publications in the field of project management. The novelty of the approach lies in the proposed method of trends discovery instead of the commonly used trends predefinition. The use of computer support allowed the full texts of papers, and not only abstracts, to be analysed, which significantly increased the reliability of the achieved results. Overall, 3,544 papers from seven journals were analysed.

As a result, 43 trends were discovered including seven long-lasting, four declining, 17 emerging and 15 ephemeris trends. Trends were analysed in comparison with the results of previous studies and project management frameworks. New trends and potential gaps were discussed.

The results highlight the topics of research that gain popularity among researchers, and which are related to the current problems that arise in project management. Therefore, the results can help focus studies on the most important areas, as well as find new ones which are not so popular yet. The knowledge of current trends is also important for those project managers who seek to improve the efficiency of their work.